Last week I wrote about all the previous GeGeGe no Kitaro anime series, and went over what made each unique--ultimately saying that what I liked the most about the original 1968 black-and-white
TV series was how close it was to the darker atmosphere and macabre tone of the late Mizuki’s comics. While I definitely still defend that opinion that out of the 6 GeGeGe no Kitaros, the very first 1968 series is the most like a Mizuki manga; there
is another, different anime that is even closer to the morbid and weird stories often flowing from Mizuki’s pen: Hakaba Kitaro.
Created in 2008 for the late night adult animation block, noitaminA, Hakaba Kitaro is perhaps the most interesting production out of all of the animated works adapting Mizuki. Never before
had there been a program that catered to an older audience, so this is definitely not your average GeGeGe no Kitaro anime meant for the younger day time television audience. Right from the opening theme there is an
obvious statement being made that this is not your typical Kitaro. Hakaba Kitaro adapts, well, Hakaba Kitaro (aka Kitaro of the Graveyard), that being one of Mizuki’s many earlier Kitaro manga before eventually creating
GeGeGe no Kitaro for Shonen Magazine. Think of it as almost a prototype to GeGeGe no Kitaro, where rounded edges haven’t yet been sanded down, and the tone and atmosphere of the manga is a lot darker, and definitely a
bit extreme for children.
Funny enough, big fans of Kitaro will find a lot of GeGeGe no Kitaro in Hakaba Kitaro, as Mizuku would later reuse plenty of the stories from his older, unsuccessful Kitaro manga in GeGeGe
no Kitaro to help speed up his writing when deadline crunch became too extreme. That said, while you may spot familiar yokai, and recognize prototypes to famous Kitaro episodes, these characters are not the ones you love;
Kitaro is far from a protector of the weak, nor does he really care about peaceful coexistence between human and yokai. He’s petty, conniving, and even chases girls. Throughout the anime you can see him slowly
becoming more and more corrupted by “modern” times--Nezumi Otoko trying a get rich scheme is normal, but when Kitaro is concerned about making a quick buck, oh boy are we in trouble.
Kitaro’s transformation throughout Hakaba Kitaro is perhaps one of my favorite aspects of this anime, as right from the beginning this version of the story has no qualms about letting
you know Kitaro isn't a good guy here, he’s just your run-of-the-mil yokai like any other in the series--he doesn't really possess any aliment, good or bad, but over the course of the 11 episodes you really
see him kind of become a worse and worse person. The ending of the series can even be interpreted as such that he and his father, Medama Oyaji, are in the middle of a falling out; something that you would never see in the kind GeGeGe no Kitaro whom has always shown his father
the utmost respect.
Kitaro’s journey throughout Hakaba Kitaro can also be seen as a foil to the greater meaning of the entire show itself--that modern life styles and luxuries corrupt. All previous Kitaro
series have had somewhat of an environmental message to them, somewhere in all of mankind's rapid development there has been destroyed greenery and yokai that have lost their homes--but Hakaba Kitaro really shows more
of a personal corruption. I always found this super interesting because of the era it is set in, being post-war Japan and not an actual modern time. You can definitely feel some of Mizuki, an ex-WWII soldier, coming home and
discovering that everything is different now in Japan. This once quiet and mostly isolated nation is now rapidly expanding and changing with the times once again, all-the-while dealing with one of its worst economic crises because
of the war.
Even though I have written a lot about this new version of Kitaro, the funny thing is that Kitaro is far from the main character in Hakaba Kitaro. A lot of times Kitaro is more of a bridging
device that ties together episodic yokai stories. Kitaro may just observe certain humans that brought on their own destruction by angering yokai, or he may cause some trouble, but he hardly ever really intervenes in
matters that don’t involve him personally. I really enjoy this episodic nature of the series, as it lets a lot of the human "victims-of-the-week" be the main attention of their own episode. Kitaro is just along for the
ride, and maybe there to laugh at them too. This give Hakaba Kitaro a great horror anthology feel, where Kitaro is almost like the host, and occasionally the protagonist in certain situations that can involve him.
Hakaba Kitaro is the first Kitaro series I've ever watched, and to this day, one of my favorite animes, just in general. At 11 episodes it is by far the easiest Kitaro series to watch
still, and not too hard to track down (although it’s starting to get a bit harder to find considering its age). For people wanting to get into Kitaro I think it’s a great spot to start, just so long as you understand
it’s thematically nothing like the other Kitaro series--you aren't gonna get anything else this dark or twisted in any of the GeGeGe no Kitaro series, nor will you ever find a Kitaro character like this ever again. But whether or not you're already a big fan, looking to get into Kitaro finally, or just someone that wants to experience a light, fun, macabre series this Halloween season, I can’t recommend Hakaba Kitaro enough.
